Outline and briefly evaluate two ways in which the family may influence an individual's behaviour.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Outline and briefly evaluate two ways in which the family may influence an individual's behaviour.

The family has a vital role in the primary socialisation process. Socialisation is the learning of norms, values and expected patterns of behaviour.

The family can have a huge influence on gender identity. When a child is born the sex of the baby is immediately determined, thus labelling the baby with certain characteristics before it has formed it's own identity, for example- baby girls are automatically wrapped in a pink blanket and boys in blue. Will, Self and Datan did an experiment where a number of mothers were shown, separately, Beth in a pink dress and Adam in Blue costume, and studied their reactions. The result was that girls were viewed as sweet and were smiled at more often. However, Beth and Adam was the same baby; thus, illustrating the difference in treatment between the sexes. This difference can affect the individual behaviour: boys are supposed to be masculine and girls feminine. If they do not conform to the norm, the family will often sanction them for involving themselves in 'wrong' activities. Ann Oakley identified this process as Canalisation (channelling boys into masculine